Potus Geeks 2016: The Year in Review
2016 was an epic year in Presidential history, with the election of underdog candidate Donald Trump as President, a man who had never held elected or appointed political office or high military rank. It was also the fifth time in history that the winning presidential candidate did not receive the highest totals in the popular vote, and the election in which a female candidate received the highest total in the popular vote and the only female candidate to ever win electoral votes in a presidential election.
Throughout the spirited and uniquely historic presidential election year,
potus_geeks continued to recount past presidential history and to review presidential biographies and history books. Here is a replay of what we did in 2016.
January: With the start of an election year, we looked at past elections, focusing on those in which there was no incumbent president running for re-election. We also reviewed The Peace That Almost Was by Mark Tooley (about ex-President John Tyler's efforts to negotiate a peace that would prevent the Civil War) and The Bank War by Paul Kahan (about Andrew Jackson's battle with the Bank of the United States). We also marked the beginning of Washington Post writer Lillian Cunningham's excellent podcast series Presidential. If you didn't catch all or any of that series, it's not too late!
February: The theme of February was "Obscure Presidents" and we presented detailed biographies of some of the lesser known chief executives: Millard Fillmore, Chester Alan Arthur, John Tyler, Benjamin Harrison, William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor, James Monroe, Franklin Pierce, Andrew Johnson, Martin Van Buren, and James Garfield. We also reviewed the American Presidents Series new volume on Ronald Reagan and Robert K. Murray's great book about the 1924 Democratic Convention called The 103rd Ballot. We also noted the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. On Valentine's Day we rated the Five Most Romantic First Couples and on Presidents Day we presented our annual Presidents Day Quiz.
March: The theme for March was "Presidents Behaving Badly" as we looked at examples of president going offside, both in their professional as well as in their personal lives. We also reviewed John Boyko's wonderful book Cold Fire: Kennedy's Northern Front and marked the annual White House Easter Egg Roll. On March 26thpotus_geeks celebrated its sixth birthday!
April: In April we began our chronicle of the 2016 election with our "Making of the President 2016" series. We also took inventory of thepotus_geeks library, and we completed the month with a series on Presidential Athletes. We also reviewed two books by investigative journalist Seymour Hersh: The Darker Side of Camelot and The Killing of Osama Bin Laden.
May: Having looked at "Presidents Behaving Badly" earlier in the year, we decided to accentuate the positive in May and look at "Presidents Behaving Goodly" as our monthly theme. We also reviewed Most Blessed of the Patriarchs by Annette Gordon-Reid and Peter Onuf, and looked at the history of Memorial Day.
June: As the conventions approached and the nomination contests were now decided, our June theme was a look at Past Presidential Campaigns, in which we looked at some of the interesting and close contests in which the major political parties chose their presidential nominee. We also reviewed Charles Rappleye's great new book Herbert Hoover in the White House: The Ordeal of the Presidency.
July: July's theme was Summer Reading forpotus_geeks as we looked at some of the best books ever written about presidents and presidential history, including some works of fiction and alternate history, as well as some of the best and most prolific authors of presidential history. We also marked Canada Day, and reviewed the first of two books giving James Buchanan the title of The Worst President (this one by Garry Boulard). We finished the month with a potus_geeks Gratitude List.
August: August was vacation month and a month of "Summer Reruns" as we reposted a selection of articles from previous years inpotus_geeks. We also reviewed Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold and the Fate of the American Revolution by Nathaniel Philbrick; Thirty-Six Hours to Save the President by Alan Trock; Continental Liar from the State of Maine: James G. Blaine by Neil Rolde; Democracy's Prisoner: Eugene V. Debs, The Great War and the Right to Dissent by Ernest Freeberg; and American Maelstrom: The 1968 Election and the Politics of Division by Michael Cohen. (It was a good summer and a great month for summer reading!)
September: September's theme was "Persons of Interest" as we profiled persons who, though never president, vice-president or runner-up, were nonetheless "players" in their day. We also marked the Fifteenth Anniversary of 9-11 and we reviewed The Birth of Modern Politics: Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams and the Election of 1828 by Lynn Hudson Parsons, and Theodore Roosevelt and the Assassin: Madness, Vengeance and the Campaign of 1912 by Gerard Helferich.
October: In October, as election day neared, we resumed our "Making of the President 2016" series, focusing not on the personalities or the controversies, but on the issues and where each candidate stood on them. We also presented a series on "October Surprises", i.e. late breaking developments that had an effect on presidential elections. We also marked Big Block of Cheese Day on October 20th, and also reviewed H. W. Brands' wonderful new book about the conflict between General Douglas MacArthur and President Harry Truman, called The General vs. The President: MacArthur and Truman and the Brink of Nuclear War. On Halloween we recounted the many appearances of Lincoln's Ghost.
November: We began November with a look at the swing states in the 2016 election, before marking election day with ourpotus_geeks Poetry Corner, before doing a post mortem on the results. The remainder of the month was spent looking at notable Presidential Transitions. We also reviewed Arwen Bicknell's terrific true crime book Justice and Vengeance: Scandal, Honor and Murder in 1872 Virginia (set against the backdrop of the 1872 presidential election).
December: December's theme was Presidents and the Media as we reviewed the interesting and sometimes tense and provocative relationship between chief executives and the news media. We also reviewed American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses Grant by Ronald C. White; The First Modern Clash over Federal Power: Wilson vs. Hughes in the Presidential Election of 1916 by Lewis Gould; and Worst.President.Ever. by Robert Strauss. We also looked at how many of the Presidents celebrated the holiday season in our Presidents at Christmas series. We ended the month with ourpotus_geeks version of The Night Before Christmas, our Top 10 Books of 2016 for Potus Geeks and our list of New Books to Watch For in 2017.
It's been a very active and full year, what with all of that as well as marking presidents' birthdays and remembering the anniversaries of their passing. I'm sure 2017 will offer more of the same as we begin with the inauguration of the 45th president in less than three weeks. I'm always open to suggestions for themes and posts, as we approach our seventh anniversary. Here's to more geekery in 2017!
Throughout the spirited and uniquely historic presidential election year,
potus_geeks continued to recount past presidential history and to review presidential biographies and history books. Here is a replay of what we did in 2016.January: With the start of an election year, we looked at past elections, focusing on those in which there was no incumbent president running for re-election. We also reviewed The Peace That Almost Was by Mark Tooley (about ex-President John Tyler's efforts to negotiate a peace that would prevent the Civil War) and The Bank War by Paul Kahan (about Andrew Jackson's battle with the Bank of the United States). We also marked the beginning of Washington Post writer Lillian Cunningham's excellent podcast series Presidential. If you didn't catch all or any of that series, it's not too late!
February: The theme of February was "Obscure Presidents" and we presented detailed biographies of some of the lesser known chief executives: Millard Fillmore, Chester Alan Arthur, John Tyler, Benjamin Harrison, William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor, James Monroe, Franklin Pierce, Andrew Johnson, Martin Van Buren, and James Garfield. We also reviewed the American Presidents Series new volume on Ronald Reagan and Robert K. Murray's great book about the 1924 Democratic Convention called The 103rd Ballot. We also noted the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. On Valentine's Day we rated the Five Most Romantic First Couples and on Presidents Day we presented our annual Presidents Day Quiz.
March: The theme for March was "Presidents Behaving Badly" as we looked at examples of president going offside, both in their professional as well as in their personal lives. We also reviewed John Boyko's wonderful book Cold Fire: Kennedy's Northern Front and marked the annual White House Easter Egg Roll. On March 26th
potus_geeks celebrated its sixth birthday! April: In April we began our chronicle of the 2016 election with our "Making of the President 2016" series. We also took inventory of the
potus_geeks library, and we completed the month with a series on Presidential Athletes. We also reviewed two books by investigative journalist Seymour Hersh: The Darker Side of Camelot and The Killing of Osama Bin Laden.May: Having looked at "Presidents Behaving Badly" earlier in the year, we decided to accentuate the positive in May and look at "Presidents Behaving Goodly" as our monthly theme. We also reviewed Most Blessed of the Patriarchs by Annette Gordon-Reid and Peter Onuf, and looked at the history of Memorial Day.
June: As the conventions approached and the nomination contests were now decided, our June theme was a look at Past Presidential Campaigns, in which we looked at some of the interesting and close contests in which the major political parties chose their presidential nominee. We also reviewed Charles Rappleye's great new book Herbert Hoover in the White House: The Ordeal of the Presidency.
July: July's theme was Summer Reading for
potus_geeks as we looked at some of the best books ever written about presidents and presidential history, including some works of fiction and alternate history, as well as some of the best and most prolific authors of presidential history. We also marked Canada Day, and reviewed the first of two books giving James Buchanan the title of The Worst President (this one by Garry Boulard). We finished the month with a potus_geeks Gratitude List.August: August was vacation month and a month of "Summer Reruns" as we reposted a selection of articles from previous years in
potus_geeks. We also reviewed Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold and the Fate of the American Revolution by Nathaniel Philbrick; Thirty-Six Hours to Save the President by Alan Trock; Continental Liar from the State of Maine: James G. Blaine by Neil Rolde; Democracy's Prisoner: Eugene V. Debs, The Great War and the Right to Dissent by Ernest Freeberg; and American Maelstrom: The 1968 Election and the Politics of Division by Michael Cohen. (It was a good summer and a great month for summer reading!)September: September's theme was "Persons of Interest" as we profiled persons who, though never president, vice-president or runner-up, were nonetheless "players" in their day. We also marked the Fifteenth Anniversary of 9-11 and we reviewed The Birth of Modern Politics: Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams and the Election of 1828 by Lynn Hudson Parsons, and Theodore Roosevelt and the Assassin: Madness, Vengeance and the Campaign of 1912 by Gerard Helferich.
October: In October, as election day neared, we resumed our "Making of the President 2016" series, focusing not on the personalities or the controversies, but on the issues and where each candidate stood on them. We also presented a series on "October Surprises", i.e. late breaking developments that had an effect on presidential elections. We also marked Big Block of Cheese Day on October 20th, and also reviewed H. W. Brands' wonderful new book about the conflict between General Douglas MacArthur and President Harry Truman, called The General vs. The President: MacArthur and Truman and the Brink of Nuclear War. On Halloween we recounted the many appearances of Lincoln's Ghost.
November: We began November with a look at the swing states in the 2016 election, before marking election day with our
potus_geeks Poetry Corner, before doing a post mortem on the results. The remainder of the month was spent looking at notable Presidential Transitions. We also reviewed Arwen Bicknell's terrific true crime book Justice and Vengeance: Scandal, Honor and Murder in 1872 Virginia (set against the backdrop of the 1872 presidential election).December: December's theme was Presidents and the Media as we reviewed the interesting and sometimes tense and provocative relationship between chief executives and the news media. We also reviewed American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses Grant by Ronald C. White; The First Modern Clash over Federal Power: Wilson vs. Hughes in the Presidential Election of 1916 by Lewis Gould; and Worst.President.Ever. by Robert Strauss. We also looked at how many of the Presidents celebrated the holiday season in our Presidents at Christmas series. We ended the month with our
potus_geeks version of The Night Before Christmas, our Top 10 Books of 2016 for Potus Geeks and our list of New Books to Watch For in 2017.It's been a very active and full year, what with all of that as well as marking presidents' birthdays and remembering the anniversaries of their passing. I'm sure 2017 will offer more of the same as we begin with the inauguration of the 45th president in less than three weeks. I'm always open to suggestions for themes and posts, as we approach our seventh anniversary. Here's to more geekery in 2017!